Saturday’s tea-time kick-off finds a floundering Newcastle United outfit playing host to Chelsea at St James’ Park. The Magpies are yet to taste victory this term and will have their work cut out against a resurgent Blues side that bested Arsenal last time out.
The Toon’s most glaring deficiency this season has been a paucity of goal threat: the Tynesiders rank bottom of the pile for goals (three), attempts (50), shot on target (14) and big chances (three). Allied to this, only three teams have conceded more goals (nine) than Steve McClaren’s troops. On a more positive note, Newcastle will be clinging to memories of their hard-fought 0-0 draw away to Manchester United in Gameweek 3 as inspiration.
Chelsea are certainly not back to their best, but they showed real signs of improvement against the Gunners: only three sides conceded fewer shots inside the box (four) than the London club last Gameweek. Nonetheless, the Blues place joint-top – alongside Sunderland – for goals conceded in road matches (eight), underlining their struggles away from Stamford Bridge.
Robbed of Diego Costa through suspension, Jose Mourinho’s men will be charged up and seeking back-to-back wins as they bid to make up ground and fix their faltering title tilt.
